More information on stem cells to treat/cure deafness and diseases.

source1

The difference between he and I is that a symptom of his MS involved the loss of hearing. His hearing improved dramatically after the first treatment. Richard returned because scientists there believed they discovered the stem cell responsible for inner ear hair growth. His return involved the hope that his hearing would be improved even more.

source2

This was repeated again intrathecally and then an extra 3 million CD 34+ & CD133+ concentrate for inner ear nerve hair growth.

7. Risks are very minimal. The very small percentage of patients that have issues are nerve bruising at the spinal cord site but goes away in about 24 hours. Preston had this but I did not that. There are no side effects, how can there be? We as humans are composed of stem cells and if they body rejects it, it is simply eliminated out of the body. PERIOD! It is not a drug. Some have side effects from every single medicine but not with stem cells.

On Feb. 15-28th I return to Costa Rica for another treatment. ICM will be trying two new experimental treatments. One includes using the stem cell CD 133+ that was proven in Israel last Dec. to improve inner ear nerve hair growth. Since MS robbed my hearing we will now try a concentration of this stem cell to see what it can do. It was included in our original stem cell treatment and I have had to have my hearing aids turned down 4x.

source3

recently ive been reading so much about the future and the future of technology.....man, as someone once said before on this board, there really hasnt ever been such a good time to have tinnitus! all the research and funding going into tinnitus and deafness is higher than ever before, and we're constantly getting news of stem cell/gene therapy research into these areas - the scientists are ON it!!

I know how awful tinnitus etc is, but guys, we're making so much progress at such an increasing rate...there WILL be a cure for all these aural conditions soon enough! im no futurologist or anything but from what ive read about the exponential progress of technology in the futur...man, its SURELY relasitically just a matter of years away!!

I mentioned stem cells/gene therapy as personally i'm concerned mostly by hearing loss, which either stem cells or gene therapy will cure, within a decade (i base this on the research i've done thus far). i agree that the cure for tinnitus may not be based in one of these approaches, but that doesn't mean it won't be cured very soon. Diseases are most definitely on their way out...

source4

Dennis finally got time to post the answers regarding treatment for the deaf. Id be interested in seeing what the doctors and experts say about anecdotal reports of people who are having their deafness(sometimes in conjuction with other conditions/diseases) treated/cured now!

Ive seen anecdotal reports of deafness being treated/cured several times since 2007. If this is really true then we can expect human clinical trials by 2015-2020. Perhaps it's too risky and expermental to be done on healthy humans today but it may still be done on humans that have serious diseases such as MS. They can treat both the MS and deafness together with taking the risk only once. When they establish more safety, that's when we will see deaf clinical trials.

We will probably see such clinical trials in other countries first then later on in America. I will keep searching the net and get more news. Some experts are now forecasting 2015-2020 for human clinical trials to restore some hearing loss. If the anecdotes are any indication, we won't have to wait as long as feared. There still is no date yet on when human clinical trials will begin but once we have a date, itll be around the corner.

I applaud the brave souls who will risk their hearing, health and even lives being the first clinical trial subjects. Ive read that demand will be fierce with thousands applying to get into the first trials. I am not a risk taker so ill bow out and eagerly await the results of pioneers. When a high degree of safety is proven, ill try to join the later trials(phase II or III)

Update: I read more and found out that having *too* many hair cells actually results in a hearing loss as bad as having too few! Too many also increases the risk that some hair cells could become cancer! So yes just like CI, those with too much residual hearing may in fact hear worse after stem cell treatments!

However I also read that methods for halting the growth of hair cells is being developed to minimize this problem of ending up with excess hair cells. Even if you do end up with a few too many, it should be possible to kill off the extras with loud noise. It remains to be seen how much of a hearing loss is required to be a candidate, however I see no reason the severely and profoundly deaf won't make good candidates.

Good Wikipedia on Cochlear implants

People were getting CI before FDA approval and even before clinical trials. Even if it takes around 30 years to see clinical trials for stem cells to treat/improve deafness, there will be thousands of people who seek that treatment well before the first clinical trials. We are already seeing a few dozen people getting stem cells for their deafness, expect that number to rocket in the next few years. I will be following closely to evaluate results and safety.

Update! Another anecdote!

Stem cells!

My son has CP and severe to profound hearing loss. We went in 2007 and 2008 in
China for umbilical stem cells treatment. One of teh outcomes and they have been
many was the improvement in hearing loss. Each time I decreased teh power of teh
hearing aids. From their case studies they say in 6-7 treatments you recover
your hearing loss.
 
I also know they had several patients with no vision that after one treatment (
6 injections) started to see with glases. This is something you may want to look
into. There is a group BIA4kids on which lots of parents went to China for
treatment of neurological and degenerative diseases including hearing loss and
lack of vision.